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Garlic

Garlic

Mom of three kiddos and a black lab, running enthusiast, sports-med-doctor-in-training. I love the science and sport of running and all things related.

Who Are the People Running Marathons?

Garlic Posted by Garlic on April 27, 2016 12 Comments

image
A lot’s changed since my first marathon five years ago, except my feelings about the marathon.

Nearly five years ago, I ran my first and only marathon. In spite of having run regularly for most of my life, training for that marathon proved to be a huge challenge! Each and every long run beat me up, I was exhausted, and I got injured. I made it through the race, but just barely. At the time, and even years later, I chalked my difficulties up to being a newbie at focused training. I thought my inexperience with workouts and long runs alone could account for what I had experienced. But here I am five years later, now a seasoned middle-distance racer with many workouts and long runs under my belt and now I’m training for my second marathon. To my surprise, it is no easier. I am still struggling.

Most would agree marathon training takes a profound physical and mental toll. And yet, on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and the like there are post after post showing joy-filled, glowing people reveling post-long run or race. Marathon participation is soaring; the most recent data from Running USA, the 2014 Annual Marathon Report, cites 2013 as a blockbuster year for marathons, in spite of the Boston Marathon bombings and several other large marathon cancellations. In the 1,100 marathons that were run in the US that year, all-time highs were set for male finishers (308,400 finishers), female finishers (232,600 finishers), and Masters finishers (254,300 finishers). I have many friends, serial marathoners, who vigorously extol the virtues of this iconic race distance.

So who are the people who can’t seem to get enough of the marathon?  Read more >>

Categories: Marathons, Motivation
Tags: marathon, marathon training

Cathy Utzschneider: Running Wisdom from a Coach and Competitor

Garlic Posted by Garlic on April 19, 2016 16 Comments

imageEvery once in a while, you meet someone in life who changes your approach to the world. This happened for me on my 40th birthday when I called Cathy Utzschneider and asked if she would coach me. Founder of the coaching practice MOVE!, and then the head-coach of the oldest all-women’s running club in the country Liberty Athletic Club, Cathy is known for coaching female runners. In particular, she is known for stressing the importance of goals.

Little did I know then that the two years I would spend training with Cathy would lead me to physical feats I only dreamed of, personal bests at seven different distances ranging from the 200m to the half-marathon, and a renewed sense of purpose regarding both my career and my family. Yes, one person helped me accomplish all of that!

So you can see why I felt compelled to write about her for Salty Running, and bring her story to you, our readers. She truly embodies what many of us are striving in our own way to be: accomplished runner, successful family-woman, and well-respected career professional. Read more >>

Categories: Elite & Pro Running, Interviews
Tags: coaching, goals

Stefani Penn Harvey is Going for Sub 3 in Boston

Garlic Posted by Garlic on April 12, 2016 Leave a comment

Image 4Stefani Penn Harvey learned the hard way to respect the marathon distance. As a recently-graduated post-collegiate runner with one half marathon and a few 12-mile training runs under her belt, she jumped into the Rock’n Roll Arizona marathon fully expecting to qualify for Boston, but she was in for a rude awakening and a 34-minute positive split.

Her resulting 3:58 gave her a new-found appreciation for the hard work, dedication and training it would take to become a successful marathoner. She took that lesson to heart, and eight months later on her next marathon attempt she nabbed that Boston qualifying time in Portland. Now, six marathons, thousands of miles, two cities, a Ph.D, a marriage, and a new career later, she’s heading back to Boston with a marathon personal best 55 minutes faster than her first. In less than two weeks, she’ll cross the starting line in Hopkinton with the big goal of breaking 3:00 for the first time.

Read more >>

Categories: Interviews
Tags: Boston Marathon, BQ, sub-3

Emma Spencer’s Ready to Go Big in Boston!

Garlic Posted by Garlic on March 9, 2016 9 Comments

emma5As the Boston Marathon approaches, we thought it would be fun to learn about some of the runners looking to achieve big marathon dreams there. What better way to kick off our Boston profile series than with a Bostonian! Meet Emma Spencer.

Emma Spencer is not one to shy away from challenges. During her senior year in college, Emma ran her first marathon in an enviable 3:20 two days after a major snowstorm. This early marathon success was a logical progression for Emma, who began competitive running as a high school freshman after realizing “the only part of organized sports I was good at was running up and down the field.” She is very good indeed.

Now a sub-elite runner in the storied Boston Athletic Association Running Club, and coming off a stellar 2015-16 indoor track season, Emma has her sights set on running sub-2:50 at this year’s Boston Marathon, which maybe, just maybe will be a stepping stone on her way to earning a spot in the 2020 Olympic Trials marathon. All of this after some said she’d never run a marathon again. Read more >>

Categories: Interviews
Tags: Boston Marathon, rheumatoid arthritis

My Brave Mile

Garlic Posted by Garlic on February 3, 2016 21 Comments

Warming up for the big event, my brave mile. Photo by my coach, Cathy Utzschneider
Warming up for the big event, my brave mile. Photo by my coach, Cathy Utzschneider

My mile-training day of reckoning was fast approaching, almost time to put the past several months of motivation, stamina training and speed-work to the test and to see if I had the courage to run a brave mile. I wrote my goal on my calendar in red, but as the date approached, Mother Nature intervened, dropping a thick blanket of snow over the tracks and roads of Boston. The weather turned colder, and a series of damp, blustery days seemed to seal the deal; I would have to wait for spring.

But then, unexpectedly, just as I got used to the idea of trading in my racing flats for snowshoes, the forecast became more favorable for racing, predicting several days of sun and milder air to melt the snow. As if on cue, patches of the orange oval in my neighborhood peeked out from beneath the white cover, growing bigger day by day.

And then I got an email from Coach Cathy: “I think we can head to the track today. Want to try the miler?”  Read more >>

Categories: Training & Racing
Tags: Garlic race reports, mile race, time trial, track workouts

Mile Training: Spend Time on Speed

Garlic Posted by Garlic on January 27, 2016 4 Comments

Speed
To race a fast mile you need speed! Image by Jinger Moore.

Speed-work: we do it to train for every race distance. It’s our chance to practice running at our target race pace, taking on the challenge in small pieces before stringing it together into a race on our big day. I thought I had plenty of experience with hard speed workouts training for the 5K and the10K, but I was completely unprepared for mile race speed-work. For mile training, speed work means running REALLY hard.

I started out chronicling my journey to a brave mile by telling you my reasons for tackling this distance. Then, I told you about the stamina training I do to build the strength to hold a fast pace for a whole mile. This week, I’ll talk about my mile-specific speed-work.

Improving your speed for the mile involves setting a baseline, priming your nervous system and building strength with sprints, and tackling mile-specific hard interval workouts. Read more >>

Categories: Mental Training, Training & Racing, Training Basics
Tags: intervals, mental toughness, mile race, speed training, sprints, track workouts

How to Train to Race a Mile: Start with Stamina

Garlic Posted by Garlic on January 11, 2016 3 Comments

Runner midstride
Training for a mile requires more than speed.

When most of us distance runners think about how to train to race a mile, we think speed, speed, and more speed! Compared to a marathon a mile is a very short race, but like a good marathon race, a good mile race requires training that balances speed, strength, and stamina. Lest you think forgoing marathons for miles means low mileage and nothing but short speed workouts on the track, nothing could be further from the truth. A good mile race requires lots of miles in training, including tempo-type workouts and, yes, long runs!

Last week, I told you about my quest to run a brave mile. This week I want to begin talking about training for a mile race. Because I started my mile race training with building my endurance, let’s start with stamina training. We’ll get to speed and and strength later.

Building stamina for a mile race requires building base mileage, incorporating a long run, as well as specific stamina workouts. Read more >>

Categories: Training Basics
Tags: long runs, mile race

Forget Marathons: I’m Racing the Mile

Garlic Posted by Garlic on January 5, 2016 10 Comments

collage of track mile markFor many runners, especially those adult-onset runners who catch the running bug later in life, it’s all about the marathon. It’s a lofty aspiration, a great topic of conversations at cocktail parties, and well worth its place on the bucket list.

The marathon, however, is not on my bucket list. While my big dream running goal might not impress anyone around the office water cooler, it’s more intense than a marathon and it requires just as much bravery: one fast mile. Read more >>

Categories: Motivation, Training Basics
Tags: mile race

13 Trail Racing Tips for Road Runners

Garlic Posted by Garlic on November 11, 2015 9 Comments

Flickr Commons Image by the Knocksville Track Club.
Flickr Commons Image by the Knocksville Track Club.

After a summer and fall of trail running, the road 5K I was scheduled to race last weekend didn’t seem quite right. Looking for a break for my body and mind, I found a small trail race in a neighboring town with a 5.3-mile option. Perfect!

During the race, however, there were many times I thought to myself: “Huh, this is really a totally different ball game than racing on the roads! I wish I had known….” Those short 5.3 miles taught me a lot, but how much better could I have done if I’d been forewarned of a few key things? Maybe I could have even out-kicked that young runner in front of me at the end; who knows?

I resolved to do my research for next time, and to share my findings with you. I polled my Salty sisters for their best trail-racing tips, and combined these with what I learned. So here you have it: our Salty Collection of Trail Racing Tips for Road Runners. Read more >>

Categories: Racing, Trails & Ultrarunning, Training & Racing
Tags: trail race, trail running

Garlic’s Back on the Running Roller Coaster

Garlic Posted by Garlic on September 1, 2015 4 Comments

sdkfheskfh Image via wikipedia.
Weeeeeeee! Image via wikipedia.

Hello Salty Readers, it’s Garlic – after a long break, I’m finally writing a post! Busy with my career, family and an injury this summer, it’s been easy to let writing fall to the wayside. I’ve still been following along, though, and some of the posts recently (particularly Sage’s lovely post, Catnip’s heartfelt update, and Salty’s honest post) have inspired me to write one of my own.

After a super-tough winter in Boston, trying to keep up my training amidst mountainous snowdrifts and icy roads, spring finally came in late April. With it, my first race of the season: the James Joyce Ramble 10K.   This race is locally famous for the historically-attired volunteers who read passages from the works of James Joyce at various points along the challenging 10K course in Dedham, Massachusetts. For the past two years, the course has also been the site of the USATF National 10K Masters Championships, and there were some masters superstars running this year. While registering, I was asked if I wanted to compete in the Championship or citizen’s race.  Read more >>

Categories: Cross Training, Injury & Prevention, Race Reports
Tags: Garlic race reports

Salty Running Visitor’s Guide to Boston Running Routes

Garlic Posted by Garlic on April 15, 2015 2 Comments

Boston Skyline.  Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons
Boston Skyline. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

It’s Boston Marathon time, Salty Readers! This week, thousands of runners and their families, friends and supporters flock to my city to run in or cheer at one of our country’s most storied road races.   This influx of running-minded visitors brings a host of unfamiliar runners to our roads, paths and trails. For those looking to run while you are here, there is no lack of fantastic running routes to choose from. Whether you are a racer in need of a good shakeout or last mid-distance run, or a supporter getting in your daily six-miler, there’s a perfect route here for you.

For some of my favorites, read on after the jump! Read more >>

Categories: Travel Running

Deadlift Dos and Don’ts for Runners

Garlic Posted by Garlic on March 25, 2015 Leave a comment

IMG_3326
Using a detached broom handle to cue myself while I practice my hip hinge

Do you deadlift?

It may well be one of the single best exercises for runners, and if you don’t, you should! Most runners could benefit from strengthening their posterior chain – the muscles in the back of us like our glutes and hamstrings. These help propel us forward, and are necessary for good speed and stability while running. The deadlift can also help with core strength and stability. Mastering it can give you a key tool to use in your strength-training repertoire, so here are some tips to help you succeed. Read more >>

Categories: Cross Training, Healthy Running
Tags: deadlifts, strength training

Learn to Race Your Best 5k!

Garlic Posted by Garlic on January 29, 2015 9 Comments

garlicThough a long-time runner, I am somewhat of a newbie racer.  Nearly a year into my tenure as a competitive local road racer, I still find myself learning things about how to race the 5K, my distance of choice, every single time I do it. Yes, I wrote “learning how to race.” For, much to my surprise, it turns out racing a distance is not only about bolting at the gun and trying to run it as fast as you can. If you race the same distance again and again, you will find your body and mind respond in certain ways at certain points in the race. Make note of this my friends, and remember it well! This is priceless fodder for directing your future training and mental preparation, and can help unlock the full potential of your fitness.

You have to learn to race your best 5k by racing 5ks!
Read more >>

Categories: Racing, Training & Racing, Training Basics
Tags: 5k, 5k training, racing

Know More than Squat about Squats

Garlic Posted by Garlic on December 31, 2014 18 Comments

Photo credit: Casey Mullens, babble.com
Somewhere between childhood and adulthood we stop naturally squatting. Photo credit: Casey Mullens, babble.com

Today I am writing to extol the virtues of the deep squat, and to convince all you Salty Readers to try it and maybe even spend some time in it every day.

Squatting isn’t easy for a lot of us in this country. We don’t do it much once we leave our childhood years, and when we try as adults we either barely get down, or fall over while we’re trying.  Then in the gym we load our squat exercises with heavy weight while our knees cave in, our feet pronate and turn out, and our torsos pitch forward – sounds like an injury waiting to happen, right?  Or maybe we just avoid it entirely, and use the leg press machine instead, isolating our quad muscles but completely neglecting the contribution of our core or our glutes.

But how helpful is that to our functional movement as runners?  Read more >>

Categories: Cross Training, Injury & Prevention
Tags: hip flexibility, range of motion, squats

The Champion Mindset

Garlic Posted by Garlic on November 10, 2014 8 Comments

Sprinting to a substantial PR and a third place finish at the Canton Fall Classic 10K
Sprinting to a substantial PR and a third place finish at the Canton Fall Classic 10K

A few weeks ago, I ran the Canton Fall Classic 10K and ran as well as I’ve ever run in my life. Though my time was a significant PR, and I am proud of that, the biggest breakthrough was a mental one. You see, for the first time ever in a race I “went there.” You know that place, the impossible, painful, air-sucking, muscle-burning place of exhaustion.

I went there, and I DID NOT LET UP.

I realize how limited I was by my mental state during races. This is a huge breakthrough for me and I want to share with you what I realized it takes to have the mind of a champion. Read more >>

Categories: Mental Training, Race Reports, Racing, Training & Racing
Tags: Garlic race reports, mental toughness, mental training - general

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